Microsoft Flight Simulator

# Microsoft Flight Simulator — AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D + NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090

This analysis examines measured performance data for Microsoft Flight Simulator running on the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D processor paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card. The dataset includes average FPS readings across three resolutions and four graphics settings presets, alongside synthetic benchmark scores for both components. The combination ranks 67th out of 2,996 tested configurations in this game, placing it in the top 2.2% of all recorded system pairings. This report interprets the measured rows to explain how each component contributes to the observed frame rates, what settings offer the best experience, and how resolution scaling reveals the system's performance bottleneck.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor built on the Zen 5 architecture with the Granite Ridge codename. It operates at a base clock of 4.70 GHz and boosts up to 5.60 GHz, with a 120 W TDP and 96 MB of shared L3 cache. In synthetic benchmarks, this CPU achieves a Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 22,807 and a single-core score of 2,228, alongside a PassMark single-thread score of 4,704 and a multithread score of 41,318. These numbers place the processor at the 92nd percentile among all CPUs tested, with an average benchmark score of 58,386.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the CPU's role is substantial because flight simulation workloads involve extensive physics calculations, weather systems, and complex scenery generation that rely heavily on single-thread performance. The measured data shows that at 1080p with Low settings, the system achieves 233 FPS, which is the highest frame rate recorded in the entire dataset. At this resolution and settings level, the GPU is not the limiting factor; the CPU must feed frames fast enough to sustain such high output. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D's strong single-core score of 2,228 in Cinebench R23 directly supports this capability, as flight simulators often struggle to utilize multiple cores efficiently.

Comparing to nearest rivals, the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's average benchmark score of 58,386 sits just 0.1% above the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58,323) and 0.5% above the Intel Core i9-14900 (58,115). However, it trails the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 by 0.7% (58,826) and the Intel Xeon w5-2545 by 0.2% (58,504). These deltas are small, indicating that the 9850X3D is competitively positioned in overall compute performance. Yet, for this specific game, what matters more is the combination of high single-thread speed and the 96 MB L3 cache, which helps with the repetitive data access patterns common in flight simulation terrain and object rendering.

The CPU's 16 threads and 8 cores provide enough parallelism for background simulation tasks, but the measured FPS patterns suggest that single-core performance dominates. At 4K Ultra, the system drops to 77 FPS, which is the lowest average recorded. This drop is not primarily a CPU limitation; rather, it reflects the GPU's workload at higher resolutions. The CPU's benchmark data shows it can handle the computational demands; the PassMark data compression score of 474,501 and floating point math score of 81,998 indicate strong arithmetic throughput that benefits physics and flight model calculations.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 features the AD102 chip on the Ada Lovelace architecture, manufactured on a 5 nm process with 76,300 million transistors. It has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth, operating at a base clock of 2235 MHz and boost clock of 2520 MHz. The GPU's memory clock runs at 1313 MHz with 21 Gbps effective speed. In synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4090 scores 38,194 in PassMark G3D and 26,613 in PassMark GPU compute, with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 9,223. The card sits at the 88th percentile among all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 60,347.

For Microsoft Flight Simulator, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. The measured FPS data shows a clear pattern: at 1080p Low, the system hits 233 FPS, but at 4K Ultra it falls to 77 FPS. This scaling indicates that the RTX 4090 is the primary bottleneck at higher resolutions and settings. The GPU's 24 GB VRAM is more than sufficient for this game's textures and scenery at any resolution, so memory capacity is not a constraint. Instead, the rendering workload—pixel shading, lighting calculations, and draw calls for dense terrain—pushes the GPU to its limits.

The RTX 4090's nearest rivals in the database include the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326, delta 0%), AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140, delta 0.3%), AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896, delta -2.5%), and AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657, delta 2.9%). The RTX 4090's average score of 60,347 is effectively tied with the Arc Pro A60, but the real-world gaming performance in this flight simulator is likely driven by driver optimization and architectural strengths that synthetic benchmarks may not fully capture. The measured FPS at 4K Ultra (77 FPS) demonstrates that even this high-end GPU struggles to maintain high frame rates at maximum settings in this demanding title.

The GPU's 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 performance and 1,290.2 GTexel/s texture rate provide ample raw horsepower, but flight simulation's complex shader workloads and heavy draw call overhead mean that raw compute isn't the only factor. The measured data shows that at 1440p Medium, the system achieves 146 FPS with a minimum of 124 FPS, suggesting consistent frame delivery. The GPU's 128 RT cores and 512 tensor cores are not heavily utilized in this game, as flight simulators typically rely on traditional rasterization rather than ray tracing.

Settings Recommendations

Examining the measured FPS rows, the optimal settings balance depends on the target resolution and desired frame rate. At 1080p, the Ultra preset delivers 130 FPS, while Medium delivers 181 FPS and High delivers 136 FPS. The Ultra setting at 1080p is only 6 FPS slower than High (130 vs 136), making Ultra the better choice for visual quality without a significant performance penalty. At 1440p, Ultra delivers 105 FPS, High delivers 110 FPS, and Medium delivers 146 FPS. Here, High offers a marginal 5 FPS improvement over Ultra, while Medium provides a substantial 41 FPS boost. For 1440p users seeking the best balance, Medium at 146 FPS provides a smooth experience with decent visuals, while High at 110 FPS is still playable for enthusiasts prioritizing image quality.

At 4K, the choices become more constrained. Ultra delivers 77 FPS, High delivers 81 FPS, and Medium delivers 108 FPS. The jump from Ultra to High is only 4 FPS, which is negligible, but Medium offers a significant 31 FPS improvement over High. For 4K gaming, Medium at 108 FPS is the recommended preset because it maintains a high frame rate while still providing acceptable visual fidelity. The Low preset at 4K achieves 138 FPS, but the visual degradation is substantial and likely not worth the performance gain for most users.

The data reveals that the performance gap between settings narrows as resolution decreases. At 1080p, the difference between Low (233 FPS) and Ultra (130 FPS) is 103 FPS, while at 4K, the difference between Low (138 FPS) and Ultra (77 FPS) is only 61 FPS. This suggests that at lower resolutions, the CPU can push higher frame rates, making the GPU less of a bottleneck, whereas at higher resolutions, the GPU becomes the limiting factor regardless of settings. For the best overall experience, users should consider Medium at 4K (108 FPS), High at 1440p (110 FPS), or Ultra at 1080p (130 FPS), depending on their display's native resolution and refresh rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 combination ranks 67th out of 2,996 tested combos in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 2.2% of all configurations. This rank reflects the system's ability to deliver high frame rates across all settings and resolutions, though it is not the absolute top performer. The ranking suggests that there are 66 other combinations that achieve higher average performance in this specific game, likely including configurations with even more powerful CPUs or optimized memory setups.

The CPU's 92nd percentile rank among all CPUs and the GPU's 88th percentile rank among all GPUs indicate that both components are strong performers individually. However, the combination rank of 67th out of 2,996 suggests that the pairing is better than the sum of its parts, as the 8-core CPU with high single-thread performance complements the GPU's strengths in this simulation title. The nearest rival CPUs (Xeon Platinum 8260M, Xeon w5-2545, Core i9-14900, Ryzen AI 9 HX 470) all have similar average scores within 0.7%, meaning that the CPU choice is unlikely to cause significant ranking differences. Similarly, the GPU's nearest rivals are within 2.9% in average score, so the RTX 4090's advantage is more pronounced in real-world gaming than in synthetic benchmarks.

The measured FPS data shows that this combo delivers playable frame rates even at the most demanding settings. At 4K Ultra, the system maintains 77 FPS, which is above the 60 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. At 1440p Ultra, it achieves 105 FPS, and at 1080p Ultra, it reaches 130 FPS. These numbers indicate that the combo is well-balanced for this game, with no single component severely bottlenecking the other across the tested resolution range.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals how performance scales from 1080p to 4K. At Low settings, the system delivers 233 FPS at 1080p, 188 FPS at 1440p, and 138 FPS at 4K. This represents a 19.3% drop from 1080p to 1440p and a 26.6% drop from 1440p to 4K, for a total drop of 40.8% from 1080p to 4K. At Medium settings, the frame rates are 181 FPS (1080p), 146 FPS (1440p), and 108 FPS (4K), with drops of 19.3% and 26.0%, respectively. At High settings, the system achieves 136 FPS (1080p), 110 FPS (1440p), and 81 FPS (4K), with drops of 19.1% and 26.4%. At Ultra settings, the frame rates are 130 FPS (1080p), 105 FPS (1440p), and 77 FPS (4K), with drops of 19.2% and 26.7%.

The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings is striking. From 1080p to 1440p, the drop is consistently around 19%, and from 1440p to 4K, it is consistently around 26%. This uniform scaling pattern indicates that the system is GPU-limited at these resolutions, as the GPU's workload increases proportionally with pixel count. If the CPU were the bottleneck, we would expect to see larger drops at lower resolutions where the CPU is more stressed, but the data shows the opposite. At 1080p Low, the CPU must feed 233 FPS, yet the system still achieves that high number, demonstrating the Ryzen 7 9850X3D's capability.

The total drop from 1080p to 4K is approximately 41% across all settings, which is less than the 75% increase in pixel count (from 2.07 million pixels at 1080p to 8.29 million at 4K). This sub-linear scaling suggests that the GPU has sufficient headroom at 1080p to maintain high frame rates, but at 4K, other factors such as memory bandwidth and shading complexity limit performance. The RTX 4090's 1.01 TB/s bandwidth is substantial, but the game's heavy texture streaming and draw call overhead at 4K Ultra settings push the GPU to its limits.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average FPS this combo can achieve in Microsoft Flight Simulator?

A: The highest recorded average FPS is 233 at 1920x1080 with Low settings. The next highest is 188 at 2560x1440 with Low settings, followed by 181 at 1920x1080 with Medium settings.

Q: How does the CPU compare to its nearest rivals in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D has an average benchmark score of 58,386, which is 0.1% above the Intel Xeon Platinum 8260M (58,323) and 0.5% above the Intel Core i9-14900 (58,115). It trails the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 by 0.7% (58,826) and the Intel Xeon w5-2545 by 0.2% (58,504).

Q: What is the recommended settings preset for 4K gaming?

A: For 4K resolution, the Medium preset at 108 FPS is recommended, as it offers a 31 FPS improvement over High (81 FPS) and a 31 FPS improvement over Ultra (77 FPS), while still maintaining smooth gameplay.

Q: How does the GPU rank against its nearest rivals?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has an average benchmark score of 60,347, which is 0% different from the Intel Arc Pro A60 (60,326) and 0.3% above the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 48 (60,140). It is 2.5% below the AMD Radeon Pro W6600M (61,896) and 2.9% above the AMD Radeon PRO V710 (58,657).

Q: What is the system's overall ranking in this game?

A: The combo ranks 67th out of 2,996 tested configurations in Microsoft Flight Simulator, placing it in the top 2.2% of all combinations. This rank is based on measured FPS data across all resolutions and settings.

Q: Is the system CPU-limited or GPU-limited?

A: The data indicates GPU limitation at higher resolutions. From 1080p to 4K, FPS drops by approximately 41% across all settings, which is consistent with the pixel count increase. The CPU's strong single-core performance allows high frame rates at 1080p (233 FPS on Low), but the GPU becomes the bottleneck as resolution increases.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The following section presents the exact measured FPS values for each resolution and settings preset combination.

1920x1080 (1080p):

• Low: 233 FPS average
• Medium: 181 FPS average, with a minimum of 154 FPS and maximum of 208 FPS
• High: 136 FPS average
• Ultra: 130 FPS average

2560x1440 (1440p):

• Low: 188 FPS average
• Medium: 146 FPS average, with a minimum of 124 FPS and maximum of 168 FPS
• High: 110 FPS average
• Ultra: 105 FPS average

3840x2160 (4K):

• Low: 138 FPS average
• Medium: 108 FPS average, with a minimum of 92 FPS and maximum of 124 FPS
• High: 81 FPS average
• Ultra: 77 FPS average

The Medium settings are the only preset with min/max FPS data recorded, providing insight into frame pacing. At 1080p Medium, the frame rate ranges from 154 to 208 FPS, with an average of 181 FPS. At 1440p Medium, the range is 124 to 168 FPS, averaging 146 FPS. At 4K Medium, the range narrows to 92 to 124 FPS, averaging 108 FPS. This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests more consistent frame delivery as the GPU becomes the bottleneck, whereas at lower resolutions, CPU-side variations create larger swings in frame times.

The performance hierarchy is consistent across all resolutions: Low > Medium > High > Ultra. However, the relative gaps between settings shrink at higher resolutions. At 1080p, the difference between Low and Ultra is 103 FPS (233 vs 130), while at 4K, the difference is 61 FPS (138 vs 77). This pattern reinforces that the GPU is the primary constraint at higher resolutions, while the CPU has more influence on frame rates at 1080p. The RTX 4090's 24 GB VRAM and 1.01 TB/s bandwidth ensure that memory capacity is never a limiting factor, even at 4K Ultra with high-resolution textures.